By following these instructions, you can set up an automatic reply to those who send email to you in your absence.

The vacation rule sends an automatic reply only one time for each email address. For instance, if an individual sends you 6 emails while you are on vacation, an automatic reply will be generated from your account for the first email only. This feature takes care of a potential problem listserv subscribers have had in the past with mail looping endlessly between their accounts and the listserv.

• Click Tools - Rules - New
• Type a name in the Rule Name box, such as "Vacation Rule" (see Fig. 1)
• Click the When Event Is pop-up list and select New Item
• Next to And Items Are, select Received. Make sure no other item source is selected
• Do not make any selections under Item Types

Fig. 1

To make sure you reply only to items that are sent specifically to you and not to listserves or newsgroups (Fig.2):

• Click Define Conditions
• Click To in the first drop-down list

Fig. 2

• Click and select Contains
• In the second text field, type your name as it displays in the To: field of a mail message
• In the last drop down box, click the drop-down arrow to select And
• To make sure that you do not reply to items from yourself, click From in the first pop-up list
• Click and select Does Not Contain
• In the next text field, type your name as it displays in the From: field of a mail message
• Click OK

This takes you back to the Edit Rule window.

• Under Then Actions Are, click Add Action - Reply
• The Reply dialog box is displayed, showing Reply to Sender selected (you cannot select Reply to All). If you want your reply to include the sender's original message, select Include Message Received From Sender
• Click OK
• Type a message, for example:

  I will be out of the office from September 3-September 10. If you need assistance during this time, please contact Jane Doe at 555-1234

• Click OK
• Click Save
• Verify that the rule has a check mark next to it, indicating that it is enabled
• Click Close.

Rules that trigger a reply (such as this vacation rule) keep a record of who a reply has been sent to, and make sure that a reply is sent only once to that user.